Translator’s foreward: As the year 2011 comes to a close, comes a time for us to think back and make some conclusions on our doings and faults over the past year. Since Wang Letian’s expedition in September 2003, the cultural scape of a rapidly modernizing (or Westernizing, as some claim) China has gradually shifted towards thinking of a culturally, environmentally, and humanely sensitive future, rather one solely dependent on economy and efficiency.

Here I bring two stories of how a common Chinese person, through understanding and putting into practice a respect for his or her own tradition, can become proactive members in developing mutual respect and dignity for other people and cultures, and truly become world citizens and upholding global peace. Their actions may be personal, but the power of one is great when it is modelled by all by sheer virtue.

A few members have expressed that they have not received detailed information about the yaji (such as address and time). I would like to remind all that despite the EMAIL updates by the subscribe button, it does NOT update itself by sending you a new email when the post gets EDITED for new information.

Since TQS also operates by Facebook, be sure to join the Guqin – 古琴 (Guqin International) group, as all TQS events are posted there, and the system DOES give updates to whatever changes that are being made to that said page. Also, it helps us to tally who is going, so we can arrange the proper amenities.

In the future, we will look into making more posts to notify everyone of these smaller changes, so that you don’t miss out on the action!

In celebration of the 2012/4710 Chinese New Year of the Water Dragon, the Toronto Guqin Society (TQS) has partnered up with the Toronto Chinese Orchestra (TCO) and Mr. William Ho of The ONE Gallery in Unionville, to bring you authentic traditional ritual music used in the Guanli coming-of-age ceremony. Recorded in High-Definition, this is the first time since TQS performed the piece in partnership with the Chinese Students and Scholars Associations of Ontario Universities (CSSAOU) in the 60th anniversary of the PRC in 2009.

The three stages of the coming-of-age ceremony are reflected by the three pieces of music used – consecutive pieces “Lu Ming”, “Si Mu” and “Huanghuang Zhe Hua” from the “Small Elegant Airs” section of the Book of Poetry. The score used is the Imperial Commissioned Score of the Book of Poetry, titled by Qianlong of the Qing period (in the 18th century). The score was part of a larger cultural reform at the time, and the republication of the work in the Republican era (early 20th century) did not make any amendments. Juni Yeung from TQS has spent two years in studying the system, in attempt to revert the changes from the 14-pitch scale back to the 12-pitch one, and strike a balance with contemporary instrumental and performance contexts.

TQS and TCO will be publically performing these pieces on Saturday, January 21, 2012, from 10AM to 11:30am, at Evergreen Brick Works, 550 Bayview Ave., Toronto, ON, M4W 3X8. Music lovers, families, and curious minds are encouraged to attend and experience this rare opportunity in celebration of the year of the dragon! This celebration will take place during the weekly Farmers’ Market. For more information, see: